• 《自然界最伟大的成功》
  • Nature's Greatest Success
  • 作者:Robert N. Spengler III
  • 出版社代理人:University of Chicago Press(美国)
  • 出版时间:2025年5月
  • 页数:512页 (50 b/w figures, 4 tables)
  • 已售版权:
  • 版权联系人:yayu@peonyliteraryagency.com
内容介绍

一万五千年前,草如何引诱人类成为其不自觉的劳动力——以及这背后的科学原理。

驯化的作物并非人类创造,农业也并非简单地被发明出来。正如 Robert N. Spengler 所展示的那样,驯化是一个进化过程的结果,在这个过程中,人类只是不知不觉地扮演了一个角色,并且是横跨植物和动物王国的无数角色之一。是第一本书汇集了近期科学发现和引人入胜的持续研究,不仅系统地记述了农业如何真正发展,还记述了其原因。


本书以十五章的篇幅,深入探讨了驱动驯化的复杂过程,以及植物、动物(包括人类)在促成这些变化中所扮演的各种角色。本书结合历史、考古学和进化生物学,以革命性的观点,阐述人类并非自然界的支配者,而是自然世界中不可或缺的一部分,并受进化过程的持续影响。


作者  Robert N. Spengler III

是德国耶拿马克斯·普朗克地球人类学研究所(Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology)中“欧亚水果:驯化与传播”(Fruits of Eurasia: Domestication and Dispersal)研究项目的负责人,同时领导该研究所的“驯化与人为进化研究小组”(Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group)。他是《来自沙漠的水果》(Fruit from the Sands)一书的作者,并在学术期刊上发表了数十篇论文,同时主持了多个中亚地区的研究项目。他的研究重点关注农作物的驯化过程及其在人类历史上的传播与演化。


REVIEWS


"A compelling case for decoupling domestication from the yoke of human dominance and intentionality and instead understanding it as a pervasive and ages-old coevolutionary process. Spengler integrates and updates archaeological and biological data and theory more successfully and comprehensively than anyone I have seen. Scholars reluctant to relinquish human agency as the force driving domestication may be persuaded that multispecies, mutualistic relationships at the core of modern agriculture were not only 'natural' as opposed to 'cultural' but arguably inevitable."—Gayle J. Fritz, Professor Emerita of Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis

"This book marks a step change in our understanding of animal and plant domestication. Spengler's proposal of 'ecological release' as a universal driver of the domestication process is particularly exciting.
"—Glynis Jones, Fellow of the British Academy and Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, University of Sheffield

"The topic of domestication, much like domestication itself, is an ever changing and evolving one. In this comprehensive compendium of domestication science, Robert Spengler has made it possible for those in academia, agriculture, animal husbandry, and more to defer to one current and easy-to-access resource."
—David Ian Howe, anthropologist and producer of the podcast Ethnocynology